Magnet
by DySolo
Summary: Spencer Reid is a magnet for people suffering from DID. Can he finally help one of them? And if can, will he even want to? Harper Hillman/Spencer Reid.
1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:  
**New Story! So the Adam/Spencer story didn't click as well as I wanted to, BUT I researched DID and became fascinated and today, I saw a documentary on it that made it all exciting again, so - this is what came on. and Elephant's Memory is my favorite episode. So... Tah-dah. This story could get to M. Depends how it goes. I'm excited about this story. Hope you enjoy! Starts after JJ and doesn't really follow Season 6 after that.

**Magnet**

Spencer laughed at something Derek said and for the first time in the last few weeks, he didn't feel bad about it. There was still an emptiness from JJ's departure but he was starting to deal with it. They were still a team and JJ was still in contact. She was enjoying her new job and doing well. Plus, Garcia was doing everything possible to keep the blonde in constant contact - scheduling drink dates between the three as well as a play dates with Henry. He turned to see Emily making her way to the break room and Rossi talking to Hotch near JJ's old office. Hotch had made it clear that he wasn't going to replace JJ with someone else, but he also knew that Garcia was having a hard time doing everything that JJ used to do. He knew they needed help, but replacing JJ would be impossible. He smiled at Derek before moving back to his paperwork.

"Get to work." He teased Morgan who was staring at something behind him. He turned.

"That means you-" He paused his sentence, when he looked back, expecting to see Emily doing something comical. What he saw was not comical at all. A dirty woman in her late-twenties, early-thirties stood standing, looking like a scared animal, scratching at her arm.

"I'm.. uh, I'm looking for a Spencer Reid?"

He frowned, trying to identify the woman, but he had no idea who she was. He furrowed his brows before standing up, slowly. She, immediately, took a step back.

"I'm Spencer."

A small smile came over her lips, as she looked over the man. She licked her lips, the smile being replaced with a smirk. "No friggin' way."

He continued to look at her, confused. "Do I know you?"

She shivered, wrapping her arms around herself. The confident look fading slightly. "You-You don't remember me?' She sniffed, wiping her mouth before grinning again. "Come on, Captain America."

She raised an eyebrow, in challenge almost, as she looked at him, waiting.

Spencer's face flushed immediately, his mind flashing back to the football field in high school. No one else knew all the facts from that afternoon other than the people there. He squinted, looking at her even more closely.

"Harper?" He said, softly, in disbelief.

She grinned before her knees buckled. Spencer reached out and wrapped his arms around her, instinctively. Harper's hands moved to his chest, holding him to keep herself upright. She looked up at him, smirk on her lips. "You really grew up, huh? All nice and strong, have you been working out?" Her hands moved to his arms, feeling the muscles that was there. "You got all sexy."

Spencer tensed at the touches before Morgan finally stood up and helped get the woman into a chair. Spencer pulled back immediately, wrapping his arms around his torso.

"What are you doing here, Harper?" He asked, trying to get her out of here. She was bringing back bad memories that he didn't need.

Morgan looked between the woman before at his coworker. "Wait. Harper. Harper Hillman. You're the little-"

"Derek." Spencer interjected and Harper grinned, looking between the two of them before raising an eyebrow.

"You told him. You must trust him, huh? Is this your boyfriend, Spency?"

"I'm not gay, Harper." He said, slightly annoyed. Years and years of constant teasing was coming back up after so many years.

"Does he still wear Captain American under roos, Derek?" Harper teased, looking at the black man. Her eyes moved over him, slowly. "He's a good hunk of man, Spencer. Bet it hurts, huh? You know what they say about-"

"Stop it!" Spencer said and Harper raised an eyebrow. Spencer took a deep breath, trying to control his emotions.

"Why are you here, Harper?"

Harper leaned back in the chair and winced slightly. "Your mom said you could help me."

Spencer stared at her, waiting.

"I was in Bennington for a while. What can I say, I'm crazy. But because I'm crazy," She grinned, "The cops don't believe me, but I witnessed a murder."

"What kind of crazy?"

"Dissociative Identity Disorder."

Spencer laughed, loudly, unable to stop himself. "Are you serious?" He asked, still chuckling.

Harper didn't look as amused. "Yeah. 4 alters. Want to know their names, too, Doc?"

Spencer laughed again. It was like he was a magnet for DID patients.

Harper looked at him, angry. "This isn't funny. An alter saw a murder. A murder of my close friend and yet, I tell the cops that and they think I'm crazy. They try to arrest me because I…." Harper looked to the side. "I was high." She said, sounding slightly ashamed for the first time in the whole conversation, and they tried to restrain me. I switched, I punched a cop and…well one thing lead to the other and I was committed to Bennington. Where I met your mom - real cool lady. She helped me get my GED-"

"You never graduated?"

"I…You know Alexis and I were close and well, we were doing things we shouldn't. After you graduated, our smoking pot with college kids because doing meth with college drop outs and -" She looked at Derek briefly before looking back at Reid. "I got really messed up. I know that someone like you wouldn't know anything about that, but -" She didn't finish, just looking away.

"I know more than you think."

Derek looked at the man. It was as much as a confession to his drug use than Morgan had ever heard him say. Harper, not understanding, rolled her eyes.

"Right, IQ of 200 or whatever. You know everything. Whatever. Are you going to help me or not?"

"Are you on drugs still?" Spencer asked.

Harper stared at him. "Does it matter?"

"You come here, abused and dirty, asking for my help. When did you get out of Bennington?"

"Why does this matter?"

"If you want me to help you, you have to tell me what's going on. The whole truth."

Harper pursed her lips. "I got out a few years ago. Property of Bennington from 2000 to 2005. Got out and still was crazy, alters took over. Nina. Nina was always the one looking for belonging - she's the drug addict. I mean, I'm a drug addict. I don't know. I just take it to keep it from…it hurts. I don't take the drugs and it _hurts._"

Spencer looked at his shoes. He knew how it hurt.

"Anyways, I think that if… we can fix this, if I can get the bad guy, then…"

"Maybe you can save yourself." Spencer murmured more to himself.


	2. Chapter 2

Morgan watched as Spencer and Harper moved to the conference room. He could tell just by the way the man was standing that he was uncomfortable. Morgan didn't blame him either. The woman in the room had been the reason for one of the genius's worst memories. He was surprised Spencer was even considering helping her, actually. He knew that they had a duty to solve murders and help people, but in all honestly, if Carl Buford came to the HQ, needing help, Morgan wouldn't be able to help him. Of course, that was different, but it was the only comparison he had. Morgan wondered if helping Harper was more or less about Spencer helping himself, because of the drugs - because of Hankel and Jackson.

"Who's that?" Garcia said, popping out of nowhere, lollipop in mouth.

"Harper Hillman."

Garcia's eyes darkened. "The little tramp that hurt our sweet little genius?"

Morgan turned her with a slight smile on his lips. He knew that he shouldn't have known the redhead, but it had angered him that someone had done that to his friend and Garcia was always his trusty listener. She had threatened to track down each and every one, but Morgan had calmed her down - he thought. Seeing her glare at the woman through the glass only proved that like Spencer, she hadn't forgotten as well. He wrapped an arm around her shoulders, kissing her temple.

"She's in trouble."

"So what? There's a ton of cops in this world. She doesn't need to be here. Not in there with my little g-man."

"Your little g-man?"

"Yes. You may be my sweet hunk of dark chocolate, but you know that Spencer is my cute little candy cane."

"Candy cane?" Morgan asked, amused.

"Christmas is coming up. Come on, let's go to my office so I can hear what they're talking about."

Morgan grinned. "Now that's my girl."

****

Criminal Minds || Magnet

Harper rubbed her arm as she looked at Spencer who still hadn't sat down.

"Can we stop playing this game, Spencer?"

"Tell me about your personalities."

Harper wrapped her arms around her torso. "Are you going to help me?"

"Yes." Spencer said, sitting down across from her. "It's my job. Regardless of how much I dislike you."

Harper swallowed difficultly. "There's four."

"As you said."

"Rainey, she's a child. She's scared and upset and hurt. There's Nina, around 16. She needs to belong so she does things that are detrimental to the unit. Drugs. Alcohol. Sex. If we're being honest here, Nina was the one that got you to the football field, but that doesn't really matter anymore, does it?"

"You and your friends tied me to a football post and left me there."

Harper looked to the side for a second before looking back at him. "Then there's Jay. Dr. Blake tells me he's the protector. He's angry and keeps everyone safe. He's also the reason I get the shit beat out of me a lot of the time. Nina would get us into situations and then we'd switch to Jay. Jay'd punch and fight, but seeing how he's in a 5'6, 118 lbs body, the bigger, buffer men would get the better of him and I'd deal with the consequences, like I am now."

"and the fourth?" Spencer asked.

"The motherly figure. November. She keeps Nina and Rainey safe inside. She rarely comes out."

Spencer nodded. "I've read that a normal person with DID can have up to 100 personalities. You only have four. Why is that?"

"I only know four." Harper clarified. "There could be more, I guess. I never agreed to hypnosis to test to see if there's more. I do have black outs, where I don't remember things, but I don't know if that's because of the drugs or something else. I don't want to know."

"Why?"

"Would you want to know? That there are more than...one of you in your head? It's... I know of four. That's all I need to know."

"Which one witnessed the murder?"

"Nina. It was her best friend. November convinced me to go to the cops and I did, but not before Nina got totally blasted and well, you know the story from there."

Spencer tapped his fingers against the table. "Then I need to talk to Nina."

Harper looked at him, not amused. "You won't like Nina. You _don't _like Nina."

"I don't like-"

"You don't know me, Spencer." Harper said. "Nina was the host most of high school. I may be the original but from 1990 to 2000, she was the main personality."

Spencer breathed out through his nose. Maybe she had a point. "Okay." He stood up again. She did have a point. He knew that, he had seen it with Adam. Adam had been the original, but Amanda had become to host and had been the main personality for 18 months now. He rubbed his eyes. "Okay, then, but… I still need to talk to Nina."

"No."

Spencer let out a exasperated sigh. "How am I supposed to help you if I can't talk to the one who saw the crime?"

"I don't like her." Harper said, softly. "She'll come on to you. She thinks your hot now. She'll want to make up for the bad things and-"

"I can handle myself now, Harper."

Harper smiled a little before lowering her eyes. "I'm sorry for what happened in high school, Spencer. I really am."

"And yet you come in here and call me the same nickname, act the same way. Or was that Nina?" He couldn't help the snaky tone. Their conversation had already exhausted him.

Harper picked at her nails. "It was me. It was who you knew. I know that doesn't make any sense and it was wrong. I can hear her in my head, and I heard the things she was saying and I said them. And…look, I'm going through withdrawals and I got the shit beat out of me on the way here, I'm exhausted and wasn't thinking. I'm sorry, okay, I'm sorry. I know I can't blame everything on my alters, but I.. Just... please. Help me, okay? I.. I need... I've been carrying this around for years and November loves to flash it into my memory so I remember, so I won't give up and it's... I just want it to stop."

Spencer sat back down. "Then you have to let me talk to her, Harper. Let me help you. If you'd rather, we can try hypo-"

"No. No. I'll… I can do this. Just promise me you won't get mad at me for what she says?"

Spencer pursed his lips, looking at her. There was a different look in her eyes, almost childlike. She was seriously scared that he would get mad. He licked his lips, keeping the gaze.

"I promise."

He was as scared as she was, about to face the personality that had tormented him along with Alexis Lisbon and the football team for the two years he had been there. He didn't want to do this as much as she didn't. He watched as she took a deep breathe and closed her eyes. He found himself matching her breathing, trying to keep himself calm as well. Could he do this? He watched as she opened her eyes and everything changed.


	3. Chapter 3

Nina smiled as she stood up before looking at her clothes. She frowned, pulling at the shirt.

"Ugh. I hate how Harper dresses. I'm 16, not 50."

Spencer looked at the woman. She was wearing faded jeans, caked in mud and probably blood and a tshirt, also dirty. She didn't look 50 to him.

"I think you look nice, I mean, considering."

She raised an eyebrow before walking over to him. "Oh yeah? You look pretty nice yourself, _Doctor _Reid. Your mommy's so proud of you. Even Harp's impressed. She always thought you were kinda cute though." She grinned, running her fingers over his tie. "Did you know that Harper was a little nerd before high school, before I came along. I got her in with Alexis and Troy. I made her everything she is, made her popular."

Spencer pushed back away from her with a slight gulp.

"We misjudged you though, Alexis and I. But you were such a dweeb back then, Spency, with your nerdy little glasses and all your books, trying so quick to get out of high school. You wouldn't let Troy cheat off you, so we had to do it, you know? Had to show you who was boss. And you were kinda cute in your Captain American undies. Did Mommy pick those out?"

Spencer shifted, his eyes pricking with embarrassment. He thought Harper said Nina would hit on him and be sorry. She was anything but sorry.

"You'd yet to grow into them though, huh?" Her hand moved down his chest to his pants. "Have you grown into them yet, huh? Puberty did you good, filled you out in your arms and… how about other places?"

Spencer was frozen as she continued to run her hands down, nearing his belt buckle. He felt like he was back on that football field, being watched and teased. He only flinched when the door burst open and Morgan made his way inside.

"Get your hands off of him."

Spencer scrambled out of the chair away from the woman who looked shocked before she winced, her eyes closing. When they opened again, her eyes widened and her hands went to her mouth.

"Spencer! I'm… I'm so sorry! I didn't,.. I tried to force a change, but she… she's so strong." Harper reached out to touch him and he flinched, moving back behind Morgan. Harper looked at him, before shaking her head.

"I knew it was a bad idea. I knew it. I never should willingly switch to her. She's… She's bad. She's so bad." She muttered to herself. "She's a manipulator. I can't make it pretty. I can't make it pretty. She doesn't want to belong. She wants to manipulate… She wants…" She shook her head again.

Morgan looked back at Spencer, who was watching Harper close. There was so many differences between the woman he had just saw and the one in front of him. He frowned before taking a step towards her.

"Reid." Morgan warned, but Spencer ignored him, reaching out to touch her shoulder.

"It's okay, Harper." He said, softly. "It.. It wasn't you."

Harper looked up from talking to herself to look at him, a different look in her eyes, again. Had she switched, again? He didn't know. "She hurt you."

He shrugged. "I'm used to it. You - _She - _tortured me for years remember?"

Harper reached out and hugged him. He tensed immediately, but relaxed, feeling the wet tears against his chest. He wrapped his arms around her slowly, looking back at Morgan, who stood watching them. Spencer knew Morgan couldn't understand. He hadn't seen Tobias try and help him seconds after Raphael or Charles would abuse him. He hadn't seen the same things in Adam before Amanda.

"I promised I wouldn't get mad, right? I'm not mad." he tried to soothe her, still looking at Morgan.

Harper shook her head into his chest. "You are mad! You're mad at me."

"Rainey?" He asked, softly, causing Harper - Rainey? - to look up, eyes red.

Spencer looked back at Morgan, who was looking at the woman confused. Spencer licked his lips before looking back at the woman. "It's okay. I'm not mad. I'm…" He thought about all the research he had done over DID after Adam. "I'm not going to hurt you okay?" Most people with DID had a hurt child personality. Someone who expressed all the pain because bad things happened to them.

She nodded. "Harper tell me you're good."

"er, Right. I'm a cop, you know what that is right?"

"You get bad guys."

"Right. So… I'm not going to hurt you, okay?"

"But Nina was mean to you. She tried to t-touch you."

"But that's not your fault, right?"

Rainey shook her head. "I didn't do it."

Spencer nodded. "right, so… I can't be mad at you, right?"

"But.. But They do! They get mad at me! They try to h-hurt Nina and Jay protect me, but they hurt Jay too and I get scared and they get mad, because I cry."

"They?"

"The bad guys." She whispered, clinging to him. Spencer looked at him.

"Did you see the bad guy that hurt Nina's friend?"

"Ashley? They hurt Ashley really bad, like-like Daddy hurt Harper, but Ashley died."

Spencer nodded, slowly. He hadn't known about Harper's dad or anything really. He frowned, did he really not know anything about her? He tried to think of things from the past, trying to come up with something he knew about her other than she was mean to him. The library. He had seen her in the library a couple times before the incident. She had been the only one from that group to set foot in it. It had interested him. He had thought she might have been different. That's why he had followed her that day, which now didn't make any sense now, but at the time, he had thought maybe she was more like him than she showed. Maybe she was nicer than she portrayed. And maybe she was. Maybe it was just Nina that was the bad one and he didn't really know Harper at all.

"Okay, okay. Rainey, can I talk to Harper again?"

Rainey looked at Morgan before back at Spencer. "Is he going to…"

Spencer had followed her eyes and shook her head. "No, Morgan's a good guy too. You're not going to be mean, right, Morgan?"

Morgan nodded, slowly, but Rainey didn't look convinced.

"He's big and scary." Rainey whispered, holding on to Spencer's shirt a little tighter. "And he yell at Nina."

"You promise, Derek?"

Morgan gave him an exasperated look before nodding. "I promise."

"See, he's okay. He's my best friend. He wouldn't hurt you. Or Harper. Or Nina."

Rainey chewed on her bottom lip before nodding. "Okay."

Spencer watched as she closed her eyes before opening again and standing straighter. She flushed, immediately, at the closeness to Spencer before backing away. She rubbed her forehead before backing up into the seat, where she sat down. She shook her head.

"I bet you didn't expect this today, huh?"

Spencer straightened out his shirt before looking back at the woman. "You could say that again."

Harper gave him an apologetic smile. "I've visited your mom over the years, since I got out, and she always spoke about your adventures and how you were so good at your job. I just knew… that if I could get here, you could help. And now… now that I'm here, It's like… I feel like the freak."

"The freak, as in I was the freak before?"

Harper closed her eyes. "Shit, Spencer, I didn't mean it like that. Okay, I did, but… I didn't think you were a freak. Okay, I did, but you were an impressive freak." She opened her eyes to see him giving her an unconvinced look and she laughed a little, strained.

"God, I need some sleep. What I'm trying to say is you were so different from everyone else in our high school. You were so young and so smart and you weren't the norm. And that's not a bad thing because the norm? Well they turned out really bad. Alexis is a stripper. And Troy… I think Troy's was a lawyer, but he got disbarred. I guess we all paid for our sins, huh? Karma's a bitch."

"You're Buddhist?"

Harper raised an eyebrow before shaking her head. "No. It's just a… that's the type of thing that got you picked on in high school, Spencer. Although, in High school, you'd ramble about Buddhism until someone started kicking your ass."

"He still does that."

Harper smiled at Morgan before looking at Spencer. "I should go…or something. I'm starving and-"

"Do you have any money?" Spencer asked, cutting her off. Harper raised an eyebrow.

"Do I look like I have any money?"

"Then…" Spencer looked at Morgan.

Morgan watched as the man chewed on his bottom lip, trying to come up with a solution. He checked his watch, it was only 10:15.

"Go see Penelope Garcia. She'll… get you something to eat while I talk to my boss, see if we can do something to help you."

Harper shook her head. "That's not necessary, Spencer. I can find something."

Spencer shook his head, adamant. "It's not a big deal. She'll help you. Morgan, will you take her to Garcia's office?"

Morgan nodded an Harper followed him, reluctantly. Spencer sighed in relief once they were gone. He laid his head against the table. This had been a long day and it wasn't even half over. A memory he had tried not to think about had came to haunt him. Spencer had thought once he told someone that it would get better, and yet, seeing Nina and Harper and whoever had brought it back and if anything, made it worse. Made it even more confusing. He had hated everyone from those days and with Harper here and sick. Could he hate her? It hadn't even been her. And if he didn't hate her, what did that mean?


End file.
